Tinubu’s Statement, Final Blow to Ningi’s Padding Allegation on 2024 Budget

Tasiu Haruna writes that President Bola Tinubu has punctured claims by suspended former chairman of Northern Senators’ Forum, Senator Abdul Ningi, that the 2024 budget was maliciously embellished by N3.7trn

The dust raised by Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) on the 2024 budget has finally been laid to rest with President Bola Tinubu’s statement on the matter during an iftar with the leadership of the Senate on Thursday night.

Ningi had in a BBC Hausa Service interview,  alleged that this year’s budget was padded to the tune of N3.7 trillion by his colleagues.

During plenary on Tuesday, March 12th, 2024, the Senate investigated Ningi’s allegation. Various speakers, cutting across the North and South, including Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Olamilekan, in Ningi’s presence, said the amount quoted by the embattled lawmaker was for agencies under the first-line charge.

For over four hours, Ningi had the opportunity to counter Olamilekan and other Senators’ claims, rather he offered to apologise to his colleagues when he discovered that his allegations were mere tissue of lies, concocted to tarnish the image of the parliament and cause a confusion in the polity. His opting for an apology was conveyed by the Chief Whip, Senator Ali Ndume, during the sitting.

The Senate’s investigative hearing which was aired live on television stations would have laid to rest the controversy, however, the backers and promoters of it turned it into a fight between the North and the South and a plot to oust the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

They have since recruited a section of the media and pressure groups from the North to advance their cause, a plot to remove Akpabio and turn the parliament into an appendage of the opposition party.

However, the statement of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, has punctured the claims of Ningi and ended their game plan.

During an iftar, President Tinubu told the leadership of the Senate that the integrity of the National Assembly must remain intact and that his administration will always encourage cooperation for the nation’s advancement.

“I know the arithmetic of the budget and the numbers that I brought to the National Assembly, and I know what numbers came back. I appreciate all of you for the expeditious handling of the budget. Thank you very much.

“Those who are talking about malicious embellishment in the budget; did not understand the arithmetic and did not refer to the baseline of what I brought. But your integrity is intact. 

“I am grateful for what you have been doing. The natural challenge we are facing will be over. On the current economic difficulty, we are about to turn the corner. Our revenue has improved. All we have to do is to control expenditures and manage ourselves better.

“Light is at the end of the tunnel, and Nigerians will soon smile again,” the President had said.

With the president’s assertion on the budget, it is expected that Ningi and his cohorts in the promotion of falsehood and plot to hijack the parliament would retrace their steps and join forces with the parliament under the able leadership of Senator Akpabio to provide the necessary legislative support for the actualization of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu.

More than ever before, the country needs the cooperation and collaboration of all and sundry to surmount the challenges of economy and security to return to the path of progress and prosperity.

Since there is a window for Ningi, he should hastily tender an apology to the Senate to return to the Senate.  And sin no more. He should return the script handed over to him  so that he can concentrate on representing the good people of Bauchi Central Senatorial District.

A national daily had reported that a former vice president and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2023 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had set in motion in place to form a mega political party.

This shows that the fight is not for the advancement of the interest of the North but an agenda of those who were defeated in the 2023 presidential election and on June 13, 2023, during the election of the Senate. Therefore, all is advised to disregard the antics of the losers who are yet to come out of the defeat they suffered in the previous elections.

-Haruna writes from Abuja.